The Collapse
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: Sonic gets injured during a robot ambush, and gets some unexpected help.


" Finally, that's done... " Metal Sonic muttered under his breath, flying home from a tedious mission that Eggman had sent him on. He had just spent the last hour flying through a GUN base and dodging gunfire to get rid of the information they had collected on his boss, and escaped without a single injury. He never liked going on missions, considering them to be dangerous and stressful, and didn't entirely want to do them because he didn't share the same passionate grudge against GUN that Eggman had. So his mission finally being finished was always a relief to him. Going out on missions was the only thing that gave him a break from always being cooped up in the base, but he still preferred being safe at home to being in the outside world surrounded by people who screamed at the sight of him. His day had been exhausting, and all he wanted to do was go home and catch up on his reading.

Suddenly, he heard some loud smashing sounds to the left of him, and turned around to look down from the hill he was standing on to see what the sounds were from. As soon as he saw what was happening, he hid behind a tree to avoid being seen. Sonic was fighting a large group of Eggman's mechs, using the homing-attack and spindash as he defended himself in a blue blur, but the unusual thing was, he wasn't fighting with nearly as much excited enthusiasm as he normally did. He still tried to act cocky and full of energy, but something about it seemed strained. The more Metal Sonic watched the fight, the more clear it became to him that Sonic was exhausted. He was struggling to keep on fighting, forcing himself not to give up, when it was clear that he didn't have much left in him. Metal Sonic couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had never seen Sonic like that before. Why was he acting so winded finding against a group of ordinary mechs? There wasn't a massive amount of metal rubble around him, so it wasn't like he had been fighting an army of them for hours on end. It was just an ordinary ambush and he was struggling to win.

As Sonic kept fighting the mechs that tried to kill him, he became progressively more tired out as time went on, and Metal Sonic started to become anxious about the possibility that he might not survive the fight, and end up getting defeated by one of Eggman's weakest minions, instead of him. He tried to deny it, but it was impossible to ignore his overwhelming anxiety that Sonic's luck was about to run out.

And then it happened. Sonic was smacked by the metal arm of the last mech and slammed into the ground, leaving small wounds on his arms and chest along with a massive amount of bruises around his body. Tired and in pain, Sonic rolled over on his front and forced himself to sit up, only to reveal that he was too tired to fight back against his foe, sitting in front of it panting when it was just about to shoot him.

The instant Metal Sonic saw that, something in him kicked in and he flew towards the mech curled up into a ball, activating his boost to surround himself with fire, and started smashing through the mech multiple times in a row at four times the speed of sound, performing several homing-attacks on it in a row, slicing it apart with his sharp metal spines.

Sonic was shocked at seeing an orange blur fly through the mech in front of him multiple times curled up in a ball destroying the mech about to kill him, with a jet engine and the loud smashing sounds from a mech being turned into scrap metal being the only sounds he heard. Only eight seconds later, the mech had been reduced to a pile of rubble, and the orange blur turned into a blue blur and stopped flying around, revealing itself to be Metal Sonic standing in front of him.

Sonic was alarmed and confused, and felt even more confused when the robot's eyes went from glowing menacingly like he was about to attack, to dimming, revealing that they were a lot smaller than usual, as if he was afraid, and his black sclera, which Sonic always thought were fixed into a permanent glare, actually changed shape to show his anger going from rage to mere frustration, becoming less intimidating in the process. Sonic was panting heavily, with his forehead sweating, still far too tired to fight or even try to run away, and was in a mix between feeling very intimidated and perplexed at the realization that Metal Sonic had saved his life. He didn't want to anger him by acting wary of him, teasing him, or trying to find out his ulterior motives behind saving him, so instead, he strained a smile in spite of his anxiety and exhaustion, and decided to show him appreciation instead.

" T-Thanks for the help... I was almost a goner there... " Sonic said with a weak smile, putting on a lighthearted and joking demeanor. He struggled to stand himself up, and managed to get himself back on his feet, after which he noticed that Metal Sonic was looking at him in annoyance with his arms crossed. " _How_ did that _happen?_ " he questioned angrily, with what seemed to be a hint of panicked concern in his tone. His voice sounded like Sonic's voice with the pitch a little deepened, being clearly the voice of a teenager. It was almost as if the robotic voice he heard him speaking with years ago was a mere fabrication.

Sonic couldn't believe it. First, Metal Sonic saved his life, and now he was speaking to him for the first time in years - with a normal-sounding voice - in a way that heavily implied that he was worried about him? From that alone, it was seeming like he had changed a lot in the two years since he had seen him. Was this a result of Eggman trying to reprogram him, or was he always that way? Trying to lighten the mood, Sonic lightly chuckled and said after a brief silence, " Yeah, I know. Everybody gets tired every now and then. It's not a big deal, " and shrugged, trying to play it off as nothing.

" Not a big deal?! You were about to get killed by one of the idiot's _weakest_ _robots!_ " Metal Sonic replied to him, making no effort to hide his growing frustration. Wondering why he cared so much, Sonic said cheerfully, " I was just tired today, that's all, " taking note of the fact that the robot had called his own master an idiot.

" You were tired?! Of course you were tired, that's my POINT! Why did you put yourself in _so much_ _danger_ when you were in _no_ condition to fight?! Do you have _any_ idea how much trouble you'd be in right now if I hadn't been passing through? You could've been killed! " Metal Sonic yelled at him quickly. To Sonic's confusion, he actually seemed to be scolding him for his recklessness. It was starting to look like the robot didn't want him to get killed, and was either oblivious to what he was implying or trying to hide it. Sonic soon went from baffled to amused at the robot's unusual worrying about his safety, and smiled genuinely, causing him to get annoyed again.

" _What_ on _Earth_ are you _smiling_ about? " Metal Sonic replied in exasperation and confusion with him. " I didn't know you cared about me so much... " Sonic said with a warm smile, only partially saying it to tease him.

" Damn it, Sonic, how could you be so reckless?! Do you have any idea how lucky you are?! You're supposed to be the all-important hero of the world and you risked- Wait, what?! " Metal Sonic went from being frustrated into ranting at him to being shocked and nervous the instant he realized the full impact of what Sonic had said, and in an extremely delayed reaction, he went from having an annoyed facial expression to a nervous one for a brief moment before looking annoyed again, with his red eyes shrunken in apparent anxiety as they darted back and forth and his body language became fidgety, as he became flustered and started stammering to deny what he had said. It was quite an amusing sight to Sonic, his infamous robot counterpart acting embarrassed at implying that he cared about his well-being and attempting to deny it. All he did was smile in amusement as Metal Sonic attempted to rationalize his behavior with his arms crossed.

" H-How did you, how did you, get, such a, _ridiculous_ idea?! That's, that's completely _preposterous!_ I-I, I, LOOK, SONIC! The reason I did that was because if I let that mindless mech defeat you, it would _rob_ _me_ of a _meaningful_ victory! T-That was the ONLY reason I saved you! The ONLY ONE! You got that?! I-It's not for _any_ other reason, so it's _certainly_ not because I sort of _like_ you or anything! So don't go around saying that I do! Because I don't! " he stammered angrily, with Sonic listening to his excuses in amusement. He was still exhausted, but the sight of his supposed enemy acting that way was doing an excellent job of distracting him from it. Sonic was very skeptical of the excuse he was making. It seemed like it could be true, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than that. But since the robot had come to the trouble of saving his life, Sonic wisely decided to stop teasing him about it and let it slide. So instead of pointing out how suspiciously specific the denial was, Sonic chose to remain silent and let him change the subject.

" A-Anyway... You're clearly in no condition to fight, and barely in any condition to get yourself home. There must be a reason behind it, " Metal Sonic stated in annoyance, finally looking him in the eye again. " Nah, it's okay, I'll be fine, I just, didn't get as much sleep last night! That's it! Y-You know me, always running around doing stuff, and sometimes it gets late into the night. I'll be fine! " Sonic said with a nervous smile, causing the robot to stop having his arms crossed.

" Sonic, you're clearly injured. Are you _certain_ you can get home on your own? What if you get surrounded by mechs again?! " Metal Sonic replied, trying and failing to hide his concern. Sonic smiled, and said, " I can still get home, it's not that far. I'll just walk... "

He turned around and tried to walk home, and it was at that moment that he was forced to realize just how exhausted he was. The mere act of turning around caused him to feel dizzy, and just walking felt like a task all on its own. His steps were slow and tiring, his breathing was deep and labored, his forehead was sweating, and his vision soon became obscured with a red haze. With all of his strength sapping from him, he soon struggled to continue walking, staggered a few steps, and collapsed to the ground with his eyes closed in exhaustion.

As soon as Sonic collapsed in front of him, Metal Sonic gasped and exclaimed, " SONIC! " and rushed to his side, no longer caring what would be thought of him if he did. Still with his eyes closed, Sonic rolled over on his back and nervously tried to lie, " On second thought, I feel like taking a nap! I'll be fine, r- " only to end up in a coughing fit that visibly alarmed him and gave him a vital clue about what was wrong.

Trying to keep a serious expression despite his shrunken red eyes giving his anxiety away, he kneeled down next to Sonic, questioned, " What's your temperature? " with a serious tone with a hint of anxiety, and very carefully placed his metal hand sideways on Sonic's forehead, lightly touching it without placing any pressure on it at all. As Sonic became even more confused at the gesture, Metal Sonic began accessing his temperature display function, visualizing the Check Temperature icon in the bottom of his field of vision and it being clicked. When the Celsius and Fahrenheit icons appeared, he clicked the latter icon immediately. When three icons appeared in his mind's eye - Left Hand, Both, and Right Hand - he mentally clicked the second one and the icons disappeared, and a green number appeared next to his hand on Sonic's forehead from his own point of view. His other hand lightly stroked Sonic's left arm, below where the wound was, and he realized how cold it was. Sonic's forehead was hot, while the rest of his body was cold. His body was having abnormal temperature variations, and there was only one thing that could mean. He was ill.

" A hundred-degree fever... " he said softly, with nothing but concern in his expression and tone. Sonic opened his eyes at that moment, and saw how worried he was. Suddenly, Metal Sonic looked annoyed and scolded him, " You were fighting them with a fever?! " and Sonic's eyes avoided his scrutinizing glare as he felt guilty about worrying him.

It was true. Sonic knew that his head had been feeling increasingly hot as the day went by, with the rest of his body getting colder as time went on, to the point where he was surprised he wasn't shivering at the moment. In fact, he was so cold, that he could've sworn he felt comforting warmth coming from Metal Sonic's hand on his arm, even though his hand was metallic, and would be expected to be cold. His forehead was so hot that Metal Sonic's other hand on it was actually helping to cool it down by feeling cold in comparison. His hands, rather than being like he expected, seemed to have a similar shape and size to his own, being curved inwards at the palms rather than flat like the hands of typical robots, and his fingers were shaped like regular fingers rather than being sharp at the tip, implying that he had a form of retractable claws. His hand was just like his own hand, except made of metal. It was the same size, and shape, and was at the same temperature that his would normally be, and could be just as gentle as his own. Sonic couldn't help but be confused by all of the information he was taking in. Not only did Metal Sonic save his life, but his behavior implied that a part of him cared about him. He had just shown genuine concern for him after checking his temperature and being more gentle to him than he had ever been. Still, Sonic was ashamed and dejected at the robot finding out that he was sick. He didn't want him to see him like that. His forced jovial demeanor wouldn't work anymore.

" Yeah... " Sonic admitted with a depressed tone. He couldn't help but feel guilty for worrying him so much, which made him confused about his behavior all the more. Did he turn out that way from a reprogramming glitch or was he always that way? Deciding that asking such a question would come off as judgmental and he would never get the real answer, Sonic instead asked, " So are you gonna kill me? "

Metal Sonic looked shocked and upset from hearing that. It was only for a brief moment, however, at which point he quickly looked resentful to try to save face and crossed his arms, saying without looking at him, " No. B-But don't get the wrong idea! It's not because I like you or anything! I-It's just that, um, how would my victory be meaningful if it happened while you were ill? That wouldn't prove my worth! For all I'd know, I'd have only won because you had a virus! The virus would be the true victor, and I would be robbed of my ability to prove that I'm not inferior to you. N-Not like I'm constantly worried about that or anything. M-My point is, if I leave you here, in a condition where you couldn't possibly get yourself home, there's a chance you wouldn't survive. And I'm not taking that chance! "

Sonic tensed up as Metal Sonic suddenly lifted him into his arms, carrying him by the back of the knees with his other arm supporting his back and ensuring that his head was close to his shoulder. " I'm taking you home, " Metal Sonic explained, trying to sound reluctant and resentful and coming out with a tone of pity instead. Worried and confused, Sonic quickly realized that the robot was only trying to help him and calmed down a little, and put his arms over his shoulders to hold on tight and closed his eyes, feeling another wave of exhaustion and weakness overtake him.

Metal Sonic jumped into the air and mentally activated the jet engine in his chest, and started flying upwards and forwards at the speed of sound headed in the direction of the Mystic Ruins. It was only a minute before the robot reached Sonic's house at last, and successfully managed to get inside Sonic's bedroom from flying in through the open window.

At last, he stopped flying on a dime, which Sonic took note of, and slowly and carefully lowered Sonic into his bed until he felt the familiar fabric of his bed on his back and a soft pillow under his head. Feeling more comfortable, his expression of anxiety lessened, although he still looked tired and worried.

Recognizing that more work needed to be done to ensure his survival, Metal Sonic told him, " I'll be right back, Sonic, " left the room in a blue blur, and almost instantly returned with the First Aid Kit from the washroom. He opened it up, quickly examined its contents, and got to work, trying to mask his concern with a determined and serious expression despite the fact that Sonic wasn't able to see it. He told him, " This'll help with the fever, " and placed a cold compress on Sonic's forehead, which caused a small smile of ease from the cooling sensation. " Now to deal with your injuries. You're lucky you weren't bleeding, Sonic. There's a lot of them. "

Metal Sonic took out some anti-bleeding powder and put it on a cotton ball, warning him, " This might sting a bit, " and very gently dabbed the small wound on Sonic's chest with it, explaining to him, " I'll put anti-bleeding powder and then disinfectant on them all, but it'll take a while. There's not much time to get someone else to help you, so it'll have to be me. You'll just have to trust me on this. " Remaining silent, Sonic nodded weakly. He was in pain, but he was able to avoid expressing it through anything more than a slight grimace, understanding that the robot was actually trying to help him. He still couldn't believe that such a thing was happening in his lifetime. Metal Sonic was giving him medical attention, treating his fever and injuries as gently as he could, and from the looks of it, he might have not been doing it for entirely selfish reasons.

After dabbing his chest wound with anti-bleeding powder, Metal Sonic put the used cotton ball in the nearby trash can and carefully wet another one with disinfectant, and started gently dabbing it against the wound, grateful that Sonic was keeping quiet despite the stinging pain he was feeling. After a couple seconds, he disposed of the cotton ball, and couldn't help but take notice of the pained expression on Sonic's face. He held back a melancholic sigh, feeling sympathy for him in spite of himself, and looked back into the First Aid Kit and found a green tube of pain-relieving ointment. He quickly put some of it on a cotton ball, and gently dabbed the disinfected wound with the cotton ball covered in soothing ointment, easing Sonic's pain. The stinging and aching from his chest faded away in response to the cold ointment dabbed onto it. This surprised him the most of all. He knew that Metal Sonic could benefit from treating his injuries, because not doing that could rob him of a meaningful victory, but he had nothing to gain from soothing his pain. As Sonic realized this, he smiled warmly, finding it heartwarming that the supposedly evil robot had developed compassion. Rather than making up some awkward excuse for it, Metal Sonic simply chose not to comment on it and went straight to bandaging his chest, acting as nonchalant about the act of kindness as he could, and Sonic wisely decided not to comment on it. After all, he knew that Metal Sonic was doing something kind, for what Sonic thought was the first and only time in his life. He didn't deserve to be made even more stressed out by his enemy pointing out his soft side when he was doing something good and was already stressed out enough. So instead of pointing it out, he let it slide, and continued to lie in his warm soft bed with his eyes closed in exhaustion as his various wounds were treated and dressed.

After all of his wounds were finally taken care of, Sonic felt the warm blankets of his bed cover him, and smiled even more at realizing that Metal Sonic covered him over with the blankets. As he felt increasingly more tired, as if his consciousness was slipping away from him, he heard the robot say to him,

" Finally done. Well, I'm out of here. Don't bother trying to tell anyone what I did for you; they'll never believe you anyways... " He sounded depressed when he said the last sentence, and Sonic's heart ached in sympathy from it, wondering if doing good deeds wouldn't actually help him get redemption because no one would believe that he did them. And even if someone did, they'd never believe he had good intentions, so either way, his good deed would go unappreciated. " Farewell, " Metal Sonic said, formally yet sadly, before flying out of the room, closing the bedroom window quietly, and leaving at last. After that, Sonic succumbed to his exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep, comfortable from the warm and soft bed, blankets and pillow, his injuries being treated, and the cooling sensation of the cold compress on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Metal Sonic quietly walked back into Sonic's house through the front door, since his work wasn't finished yet, and found himself a pencil and paper in the living room. After thinking carefully about what to write, he wrote, " To Tails. Yeah, your big brother's not feeling so well today. Don't worry, he'll be fine, he just needs some rest. In the meantime, you should probably make sure somebody else is doing his job for him. He clearly needs a break. I brought him home, by the way. He was ambushed by some mechs and he was too exhausted to defeat them all. It was lucky for him that I was passing through. Anyway, I'm finished here, so I'm out of here. I've already done everything I could for him, and I have to get home, and I would rather not stay any longer than I have to, so I'm leaving the rest up to you. You're a smart kid, after all. You'll take good care of him. So basically, kiddo, Sonic's taking a day or so off, but he'll be fine, as he ALWAYS is, so don't worry too much about it. And don't bother trying to find out who I am. It doesn't matter, anyways. "

His writing was quite informal for him, sounding more like that of a regular teenager than an intimidating robot. Since he was writing anonymously and didn't have to worry about maintaining his dignity by seeming calm, composed and formal in his speech, it made sense that he wrote that way. After writing the note for Tails, he held it in his hand while quietly walking out of the house and up to the entrance to Tails' workshop, where the sound of him welding could be heard. He was thankful for that, because it meant that Tails wouldn't be able to hear the sound of his metal feet walking up to the workshop over the sound of his tinkering in the tool shed. He quietly slipped the note under the door, gently knocked on it, and then instantly flew away at the speed of sound, not wanting to risk being caught.

After hearing the sound of a metal hand lightly knocking on the door and then the sound of a jet engine nearby that soon faded into the distance, Tails stopped working on his plane and looked over at the door to his workshop nervously, only to see a small piece of paper on the floor in front of it. " W-Who's there? " he asked timidly, to no response.

Confused as to why a robot would knock on the door of his workshop, slip a note under it, and just leave without doing anything to hurt him, Tails picked up the note and read it out of curiosity, and was shocked at what he saw. The note revealed that Sonic had come down with something and gotten injured in an ambush as a result, and was taken back home by the person who saved him from it. Whoever had written the note seemed to have a lot of faith in him, to the point of being emotionally attached to him, since the note called him a smart kid who could take good care of Sonic, and reassured him multiple times that Sonic would be okay, implying that whoever wrote it really didn't want to worry him. But that wasn't all that Tails had noticed. The handwriting of the words on the note looked almost identical to the handwriting of Sonic, with the only difference being that it was painstakingly neater, as if it had taken that person long hours of practice over the course of years to be able to consistently write that neat.

Tails' analytical and prodigious mind easily started putting together all of the clues after finding them, trying to figure out who could've helped Sonic. The note was written in an informal, aloof and grumpy manner, like it was written by a moody teenaged boy. Shadow would've written it more formally, and Knuckles would've written it less, so his mind was drawing a blank on that one. It had to be someone who didn't want it to be known that he had assisted Sonic the Hedgehog, so it was doubtful that it was one of Sonic's friends or allies, since even Shadow would probably be honest about the fact that he saved him. It seemed to be someone who cared about Tails, since he really didn't want him to worry, to the point of leaving him a note reassuring him, and called him a smart kid, but that conflicted with the idea that he didn't want anyone knowing he helped Sonic. After all, if he didn't like Sonic, why would he like Tails? The note had handwriting that looked just like Sonic's handwriting would if it was much neater, as if it was written by a perfectionist who cared far too much about getting better than Sonic in even trivial aspects, to the point of spending hours practicing his writing to get neater at it than him. That was a big clue, although it still conflicted with the revelation that the person had to care about him. But the biggest clues of all, were the sounds he had heard before finding the note; the metal clanking at the door implied that a robot was knocking on it, the very gentle and light knocking implied that he didn't want to intimidate him, and the sound of a jet engine that wasn't nearly as loud as most implied that the robot had a jet engine in him and could move away from the workshop at an incredibly fast speed.

And just like that, all of the pieces came together. A robot with a jet engine who could move extraordinarily fast who was obsessed with surpassing Sonic in every aspect, who wouldn't want it to be known that he helped Sonic? Tails only knew one person who fit that description. He gasped, and exclaimed in fear and confusion, " Metal Sonic?! " He couldn't believe it. All of the evidence was pointing to him, except for the very obvious fact that he cared about him. He never expected Metal Sonic to care about him.

And then the final sentence came back to him. Metal Sonic had told him not to focus on the identity of Sonic's rescuer. It didn't matter who saved him, all that mattered was that he was safe. As Tails thought about his situation more deeply, he realized that even if he told someone what he found out, people would just say he had come to the wrong conclusions, or refused to believe that Metal Sonic had good intentions, getting worried and panicked for nothing. There was no point in telling anyone what he had discovered. It didn't matter who saved Sonic, what mattered was that Sonic was safe. Tails sighed, and soon began to find it heartwarming just what he had done for him, someone he was supposed to hate. He said softly with a warm smile, " He has a soft side... " and with that, he left the workshop and went to check on Sonic.

Author's Note: Doesn't take place in the same continuity as The Rescue Mission, of course, since Sonic would've already trusted Metal Sonic before he came to him for help in that story if this story had happened to change his mind about him. However, it still means something in regards to that story in that, this is the kind of thing Metal Sonic would do. This story takes place when he's just a 12-year-old kid, or rather, Sonic is a 12-year-old kid and he just resembles him, and it shows that even when he was obsessed with surpassing Sonic, he would've still saved him from certain death. He would've done it with the excuse that he'd be robbed of a meaningful victory if he didn't do it, but it would still be true that he cared about him deep down. It's not canon to The Rescue Mission (or as canon as a fanfiction can be to another fanfiction), but it still means something to it. Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
